The Pittsburgh Circle Track Club held their 36th Annual Awards Banquet Saturday, January 26th. Several members of the media were in attendance that included: Dick Curry...Former columnist Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and RPM Racing News, Rappin’ on Racin’, Carol Gamble…The Butler Eagle, Jody & Dennis Halbedl…Photographer, PCTC, Pittsburgh PA Motor Photographer and webmaster; for the PCTC link on RacingWeb.com, Dave Kohler...Rappin’ on Racin’ and Racer’s for Tot’s Spokesperson, Bill Korch…WEDO and WKHB Radio, Rappin on Racin, Lou Long…columnist at Area Auto Racing News, Bob Miller…PCTC Board Member & Media Analyst, Rappin on Racin, and Jim Zufall…Writer/Columnist: Motorsports Fan Report Magazine, Motorsports World Magazine, Fireondirt.com, Dirttrackdigest.com. Writer/Video Director: Motorsports Fan Report Column on Racingweb.com.

There was a moment of silence for our friends in racing that passed away this year…Jim Irvine Jr, Bill Zipay Sr. Joan Bertges, John A. Rupp, Sr., Kent Michael, Gene Pennington, Glenn Powell, Andy Phillips, William Britsky Sr., Joseph Dale Feil, Nick Nadik Sr, Dave Potts, David Boroch, Floyd Kline, Jack Gates, Dave Hoffman, Lawrence Mariani, Bob Schaefnocker, Jim "Wad" Sweterlitsch, Greg Unrue, Bob “Sprout” Cossell, Nick Viglione, Andy Bussard and Herold Grandpa Hover

Amelia Folkmire served as the Trophy Presenter

The Hall of Fame Committee was recognized for their efforts. This year’s Committee included Chairman Walt Wimer…Dick Curry, Dave Dragovich, Don Gamble, Bob Heim, Sr., D.J. Johnson, Dave Kohler, Bill Korch, Lou Long, Jean Lynch, Mike Lysakowski, Bob McWilliams, Bob Miller, Bob Neill, Jr., Jason Shank, Walt Wimer, Tom Zuck and Jim Zufall

The PCTC Hall of Fame inductees that were honored included:

Ed Ferree…Ed is a car owner, driver, sponsor, and motorsports business owner. He has owned and raced both dirt and asphalt race cars, racing them both on local tracks as well as nationally on Busch Grand National, Cup, and ARCA tracks. He owns Alex Ferree’s car that won three Lernerville Speedway Late Model Championships. He is the owner of Franklin Racing Supply and ADC Die Cast Collectibles and sponsors cars across the country. Ed has a major impact in the local racing community.

Dick Thomas…Dick started his racing career as a car owner of a Claimer in the early 60‘s. When he started driving himself, he won numerous races and finished second in points on several occasions at Heidelberg and South Park. He competed in the Claiming division for 3 years and then moved into Late Models. In the late 60’s Dick moved to the Mini Stock division and competed at tracks all around the region winning feature races and the Clinton Speedway championship in 1970. Following his retirement from driving, Dick became a car owner again; John Johnson, Norm Benning, Jr., Alex “Bunty” Makar, Augie Sandman, and Blackie Watt drove for him. He won championships at Motordrome and Jennerstown. His son Ricky drove for him and won the Limited championship at Pittsburgh in 1994. Ricky was a top 5 competitor in the Late Models with a best finish of second at PMS.

Bud Garvey…Bud started racing in 1962. In 1964 alone he won 30 plus features at Houtzdale, Clearfield, and Mahaffey Speedways which were promoted by the Drivers Owners Racing Association. Bud retired from racing in 1977 with over 200 feature wins. In 2002 he started his museum in Osceola Mills, PA. The museum contains many of the cars he drove over the years. The museum party each July all his cars are on display as well as hundreds of race cars and Street Rods restored by others. Bud was an innovator and very talented often testing the talents of track officials.

Albert “Ouch” Roenigk…Ouch’s years of dedication and hard work have increased enjoyment, competition, and safety for fans and race teams at Lernerville. He was made Track Manager in 1972 and eventually wore many hats. Always resourceful; he bought loads of steel beams and angle iron from demolished steel mills and recycled these items and used them to build bleachers, catch fences, scoreboard, and billboards for advertising for the speedway. Ouch was an expert at grading and maintaining the track surface for safe and competitive racing and was often consulted by other tracks across the country. He was the first to string multiple cables through the catch fence and now all tracks, including super speedways, are required by insurance companies to construct similar cable fences for safety. He was the first to build corporate boxes at a short track. It was Ouch’s idea to construct a Gauntlet truck which greatly improved safety for the enduro races.

Jody Halbedl took photos of all the activities.
The 2012 Rookies of the year in their respective divisions were honored

Asphalt Super Compacts…Angie Kimberly Car # 69

Sportsman… Jenn Barker #33

Asphalt Late Models…Matt Sever, Car # 83

The Glade Neil Memorial Sportsmanship Award went to Dave Olivieri and Aaron Zufall was the recipient of the Bill Steinbach Memorial Media Award.

John Smillie was the recipient of the award named for his father for the Racer’s Person of the Year.

Art Smillie’s involvement in local racing began in 1967 when Schmucker’s Speedway opened. Art served as a scorer. He continued in that capacity as well as the position of pit steward, technical inspector and occasional flagman at several local speedways over the years.

Art passed away one week after the 2001 Pittsburgher 100. Art was the leader in the tower both at Motordrome and PMS. The award is for an individual who puts his heart and soul into making our sport better.

Jimmy Steigerwald won the Dave Burt Good Guy Award. Dave Burt died September 22, 2010. He had a passion for local stock car racing and NASCAR and was well known for his extensive collection of racing photos and memorabilia. He served as the historian for the Pittsburgh Circle Track Club and was a member of many automobile clubs including the Canonsburg Sultans Car Club, and the Eastern Museum of Auto Racing.

Dave Kohler mentioned the new program for the young drivers and the “Racer’s Reunion” in November and then the 35th Annual PCTC Banquet began with the presentation of awards. Dave also assisted with the awards presentation and the Hall of Fame inductions.

Young Guns

2 Bernie Blair Car # B4 Points 50
1 Todd Weldon Car # 45 Points 80

Hobby Stocks & Chargers

6 Anthony Aiello Car #31 Points 10
5 David Green Points 12
4 Hanna Ramsey Car #14H Points 32, Owner Butch Ramsey
3 Ed Wiser Car OU2 Points 39
2 Tyler Fox Car #39F Points 41
1 Joe Podolinsky Car #56P Points 52. Car owner Paul Podolinsky

Sportsman

10 Ray Ventura Car # 13 Points 5
9 Eric Piotrowski Car # 7P Points 10
8 Dave Slade Car # B4 Points 21, Car owner Jerri Slade
7 Bill Slade Car # A22 Points 24
6 Pat Hanley Car # 380 Points 30
5 Bobby Heim Car # 92 Points 35, Car owner Sam Heim
5 tie Brian Huchko Car # 60H Points 35
4 tie Jenn Barker Car # 33B Points 46
4 tie Bob Swartzmiller Car # 28S Points 46
3 Wayne Carbo Car # 54 Points 82
2 Pat Weldon Car # 45 Points 90
1 Nick Kocuba Car # 10 Points 111

Sprints

3 Ralph Spithaler Car # 56 Points 43
2 Mike Lutz Car # 8 Points 46
1 Danny Holtgraver Car # B4 Points 88

Fastrak Late Models

6 Tony White Car # 76 Points 1, Car owner Tony White
5 Terry Wheeler Car # 2W Points 30
4 Chris Lander Car # 18 Points 52
3 Butch Lambert Car # 27 Points 58
2 Nico Dabecco Car # 1 Points 101
1 Colton Flinner Car #75 Points 117

Late Models - Dirt

3 Herman Bertolini Car # 7 Points 4
2 Tony Musolino Car # 21 Points 21
1 Daryl Charlier Car # 12 Points 77

Modifieds Dirt...V-8 Modified

4 Ryan Hall Car # B4 Points 20, Car Owner Rick Hall
3 Rick Hall Car # B2 Points 24, Car owner Jack Skinny Hall
2 Shawn Fleeger Car # 88 Points 25, Car owner Bob Morgan Jr.
1 J.R. McGinley Car # 66 Points 48

E-Mods-Dirt

5 Joe Betz Car # 8 Points 1
4 Tyler Atkinson Car # 5 Points 2
3 Bill Yohe Jr Car # 13Y Points 4, Car owner Robert Yohe
2 Clayton Kennedy Car # 9 Points 53
1 Russ Dunn Car # 222 Points 132, Car owners Jim Clinger & Dave Olivieri

Asphalt Super Compacts

3 Dale Kimberly Car # 63 Points 15
2 Angie Kimberly Car # 69 Points 18
1 Kyle Komarinski Car # 33 Points 64

Asphalt Chargers

4 Victor Keller Car # 11 Points 11
3 Jon Scott Car # 71 Points 64
2 Anthony Aiello Car # 31 Points 65
1 Zane Ferrell Car # 14 Points 85, Car Owner Patrick Ferrell

Asphalt Street Stocks

5 George Nicola Car # 53 Points 30
4 Jeff Zillweger Car # 18 Points 52, owner Rick Zillweger
3 Scott Aiello Car # 00 Points 68
2 A.J. Poljak Car # 05 Points 75
1 Matt Sever Jr & Sr Car # 83 Points 113 Car owner Jamey Sever

Asphalt Modifieds

4 Adam Kostelnik Car # 00 Points 30
3 Jon Scott Car # 52 Points 33, car owner Lou Botti
2 Billy Hribar Car # 18 Points 94
1 George Nicola Car # 97 Points 101

Asphalt Late Models (last year none attended)

4 Joe Maruca Car # 90 Points 1
3 Matt Sever Car # 83 Points 16 rookie
2 Adam Kostelnik Car # 14 Points 19 rookie
1 Barry Awtey Car # 75 Points 111

Dave Conley & Rick Kohler entertained the group with their extensive selection of music that includes over 100,000 songs, 1940’s to the present. Rick & Dave have been working with the PCTC for many years and we really appreciate the time and effort they put into making our banquet special.

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